colored inks

Inks of various colors used for both printing and
writing. Numerous dyes and pigments have been used
in the manufacture of these inks. Those made from
pigment and vegetable colors were used for
hundreds of years, but are rarely used today. Inks
made from minium (red lead), red ochre (rubrica)
or vermillion were used by the Romans, while in
the middle ages verdigris or metallic inks
(powdered gold or silver in a gum) were often
used. From about 1600 to the time the first use
was made of inks produced from alizarin or aniline
dyestuffs (1861), natural indigo, logwood,
cochineal, and similar vegetable pigments were
commonly used ingredients in colored inks.

Inks made from synthetic dyestuffs. while inert in
solutions of the dye and water, and therefore not
harmful to paper, are not nearly as permanent as
iron-gall or carbon inks, although they are more
permanent than the early synthetic dyestuffs. (143 )